“A Permutation Network”, by Abraham Waksman, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Calif., available on the Internet at www.cs.gsu.edu/˜wkim/index_files/permutation_network.pdf, describes the construction of a switching network capable of n!-permutation of its n input terminals to its n output terminals. The building blocks of this network are binary cells capable of permuting their two input terminals to their two output terminals.
“Decoding Random Binary Linear Codes in 2n/20: How 1+1=0 Improves Information Set Decoding”, by Anja Becker, Antoine Joux, Alexander May, and Alexander Meurer, published in EuroCRYPT 2012, and available on the Internet at eprint.iacr.org/2012/026.pdf, describes recent progress in improving the running time of the best decoding algorithms for binary random codes. The paper is summarized in a slide show, also available on the Internet at cbc2012.mat.dtu.dk/slides/Meurer.pdf.
The following patents and patent applications are believed to reflect the state of the art:
U.S. Pat. No. 8,155,320 to Takayama;
U.S. Pat. No. 7,620,186 to Sozzani, et al.;
U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,211 to Matyas, et al.;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,827 to Brands;
US 2009/0067630 of Daemen, et al;
US 2008/0049940 of Kocher; and
US 2007/0230705 of Hanaoka, et al.